The Middlebury women's tennis team fell 5-1 to Williams in the semifinal round of the 2010 NESCAC Tournament at Amherst. The Panthers move to 13-5 on the season and are expected to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The match was moved indoors to Mount Holyoke College due to inclement weather. The top-ranked and top-seeded Ephs improve to 18-2 (8-0 NESCAC) and will take on either second-seeded Amherst or third-seeded Tufts University Sunday at 9 a.m.
In the regular season meeting between these teams, Williams won at No. 2 doubles but lost at No. 1 and No. 3. Those results were flipped today, with the Ephs taking two out of three doubles bouts to carry an advantage into singles play.
After the No. 3 duo of Lucy Marchese and Caroline Capute cruised to an 8-1 win over Middlebury's Brittney Faber and Leah Kepping, Victoria Aiello and Anna Burke briefly tied things up by earning an impressive 8-5 victory over Kristin Alotta and Nicole Reich at No. 2 after being down, 5-4. It didn't take long for the Ephs to regain the lead, however, as the top pair of Grace Baljon and Taylor French took care of Jamie Haar and Alexandra McAtee, 8-2.
Reich gave the Ephs their third point with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Faber at No. 3, followed by Baljon defeating Aiello at No. 1, 7-6(4), 6-2. Capute secured her team a spot in Sunday's title match by taking care of Burke at No. 6, 6-2, 6-4.
When play was stopped, Middlebury was leading in two of the three remaining matches. McAtee was on the brink of edging Alotta at No. 2, as she took the first set, 7-5, and was ahead in the second, 6-5. Kepping dropped her first set to Worley at No. 5, 6-1, but came back to win the second by a 6-2 margin and was leading in the third, 2-0. Rounding out the singles pairings was the No. 4 matchup between Marchese and Haar, with the second set knotted at 5-5 after Marchese won the first, 6-4.
NESCAC Championship Semifinals (@ Mount Holyoke College)
#1 Williams def. #4 Middlebury College, 5-1
1) Grace Baljon/Taylor French (W) def. Jamie Haar/Alexandra McAtee (M), 8-2 (3rd)
2) Victoria Aiello/Anna Burke (M) def. Kristin Alotta/Nicole Reich (W), 8-5 (2nd)
3) Lucy Marchese/Caroline Capute (W) def. Brittney Faber/Leah Kepping (M), 8-1 (1st)
1) Grace Baljon (W) def. Victoria Aiello (M) 7-6(4), 6-2
2) Alexandra McAtee (M) leads Kristin Alotta (W) 7-5, 6-5 (DNF)
3) Nicole Reich (W) def. Brittney Faber (M) 6-3, 6-4
4) Lucy Marchese (W) leads Jamie Haar (M) 6-4, 5-5 (DNF)
5) Leah Kepping (M) leads Nancy Worley (W) [1-6], 6-2, 2-0 (DNF)
6) Caroline Capute (W) def. Anna Burke (M) 6-2, 6-4
